In what he described as a fight for life, a North Carolina man was left with no other choice but to strangle a coyote after the canine attacked and repeatedly bit him.
Per ABC 11, the City of Roxboro officials said the May 17 attack happened in a neighborhood on Somerset Drive, and that area is surrounded by woods. The man the coyote lunged at, James Pulliam, said he was taking a smoke break outside his apartment complex when he encountered the canine.
Pulliam recalled that prior to the attack, he sensed something was “watching” him. “I just felt like he was hunting me or something,” he added.
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Pulliam said the coyote later came out of the woods, and he initially attempted to ward off the canine by throwing kicks and rocks. He said he, however, fell on the ground during that attempt, and the coyote lunged at him.
“He jumped on me and I caught him in the air, he was biting me, and so when I threw him down and I’m trying to slide out of the way, he just kept coming,” Pulliam recalled.
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He also said that after his efforts to scream proved futile, he took the drastic decision to save himself. “I had to rip my left hand out of his mouth, and when I got my left hand out, I just choked him all the way till the police got there,” said Pulliam.
In an effort to prevent any further attacks in the neighborhood, Pulliam said he stayed around for 10 minutes just to ensure the coyote was dead, ABC 11 reported. He later went to seek medical care at a hospital. He, however, said he has to return for antibiotics.
“They took X-rays and then gave me rabies shots that hurt worse than the attack,” he said. And though Pulliam’s encounter with the coyote has been circulated in his neighborhood, he jokingly said that “people aren’t going to believe it, though, they’re going to think I’m lying.”
“I was afraid, don’t get me wrong, but it’s either me or him,” he added.
In the wake of the incident, the dead coyote was taken for rabies testing by the Person County Animal Services. Wildlife experts advise that when you encounter a coyote, you should make loud noises and wave your arms.
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